This is a pretty neat idea, basically you order these pre-planted fancy planter boxes with different types vegetables. You can order different types of boxes, such as a salad box. The boxes are delivered to your home and setup with an automatic water feeding system.

Hey all! So I know I have shared many things on gardening, but I wanted to share a project I have been working on and am very excited about. I have recently launched a community garden here in Charlotte, NC. I was volunteering with some folks one day who I found out through an off hand comment that they wanted a garden. They were saying that they had always wanted one, but didn’t know how to go about doing it. So after talking with them, I discovered they had 8 acres that they didn’t use!

Well 8 acres is a bit much for a brand new garden so we decided on 5000 square feet for the first year. You can see the satellite photo above where we tilled up the land.

So from these humble beginnings we have progressed a long way! We now have 20 gardeners, from all walks of life, religions, incomes, ethnicity etc. Of the food we grow, approximately 10% is donated to food banks. We have big plans for next year, but its been a great growing season so far. Check out the latest photos from our garden.

So I may have mentioned that I have been working on launching a community garden. What is interesting is that most of the people who come to me to garden because their neighborhoods don’t allow gardens. Yes, that’s right, the Home Owners Associations prohibit it. Even when it is behind the house. I know this isn’t the case in all or most of them, but it is beginning to become a trend (at least here in Charlotte, NC). It is kinda scary how powerful HOA’s are becoming. The rules for the neighborhood I regretfully live in, is about 75 pages for the core document (with additional sub documents). To compound this issue, in North Carolina HOA’s are extremely powerful legally.

HOA’s can actually push someone into foreclosure! They can impose leins on property, they have the right to fine and other major powers. Now I am very much for an open forum among neighbors and having basic protections. For example I don’t want abandoned cars on blocks laying around, I want the grass to be cut when needed and other types of rules. But When I can’t have a 100 square foot vegetable garden located behind my house, where it isn’t visible from the street and it is kept neat and presentable; that seems unreasonable.

This is something that many people come to the community garden for. Because they want to have control of their food, but aren’t allowed to. So what do I have to do? Well I have a covert garden where even my neighbors have a hard time seeing it, not to mention you can’t see it from the street. When I wanted to expand I was forced to start a whole community garden for this purpose!

What is it like in your area? Should this be something that is allowed?